The White House News Photographers Association has issued a scathing statement slamming Press Secretary Sarah Sanders for releasing an apparently doctored photo as evidence that CNN’s Jim Acosta put his hands on a young female staffer during a press conference.

Just hours after he faced off with Trump in the televised press conference, Acosta had his hard pass yanked over what Sanders alleged was “inappropriate behavior” when an intern approached him and tried to take back the mic.

She also shared a video as “clearly documented” proof.

We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y

For the record, Acosta has denied that he did anything wrong and claimed the White House was trying to “send a message” with his ouster. He also has the backing of both CNN and fellow White House reporters.

And now, it seems the video the White House is holding out as proof of Acosta’s actions may not be clear proof at all.

As internet sleuths quickly pointed out, the video at best was edited from a high-quality broadcast video with nearly 30 frames per second to one that is compressed into a Twitter shareworthy GIF, which has a substantially more choppy 10 frames per second. At worst, it may have been intentionally doctored.

For the White House News Photographers, Sanders’ tweeting out such an unreliable video that was manipulated was simply appalling.

“The White House News Photographers Association is appalled to learn that the White House spokesperson may have shared a manipulated video of CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s interaction with a White House intern during a news conference,” the group wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

They added: “As visual journalists, we know that manipulating images is manipulating truth. It’s deceptive, dangerous and unethical. Knowingly sharing manipulated images is equally problematic, particularly when the person sharing them is a representative of our country’s highest office with vast influence over public opinion.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Sanders is standing by her claims about the Acosta incident and the reporter has not been reinstated.

[image via screengrab]

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Just as AG Barr indicated during the nomination process, there won't be investigative details that were declined for prosecution released by the DOJ in regards to Mueller's investigation. Congress and the public will only see the charges they pursued for indictment. It is against the DOJ rules to discuss the details of investigations that cannot be prosecuted. Comey did it with Clinton, but it is never supposed to happen. He did it only to exonerate her inappropriately and against the advice of the chief DOJ Counsel James Baker. Rosenstein said today that AG Barr will do the right thing and elaborated on his understanding of the matter:“The guidance I always gave my prosecutors and the agents I worked with during my tenure on the front lines of law enforcement were if we aren’t prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court,” Rosenstein said, “then we have no business making allegations against American citizens.”